Their words

“He who is born free should maintain himself in freedom, and not submit to others, for there is nothing worse nor more abhorred than slavery.”

As reported by Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi · Her reply to Governor João Correia de Sousa, Luanda, 1622, as reported by seventeenth-century chroniclers; quoted by Linda M. Heywood, Dictionary of African Christian Biography

Context Sent to negotiate for her brother's kingdom in the Portuguese colonial capital, she refused the annual tribute the governor demanded and argued that submission would cost Ndongo its standing.

Portrait of Queen Nzinga
Queen NzingaAngola · c. 1583–1663
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